Montreal’s Joe Beef takes first place in the annual Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks

Kudos are due on two counts today for Montreal meat mecca Joe Beef. Reason No. 1: the operators of this long-lauded restaurant (David McMillan, Frédéric Morin, Meredith Erickson) have penned a volume—The Art of Living According to Joe Beef—that just took first place in the third annual Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks. This is a tough get, especially considering the judge was Alice Waters, the highly discerning Californian chef who more or less made “fresh and local” into its own religion category of cuisine. “There is a sense of history to the book and their deep love of Montreal is evident throughout,” writes Waters. “I loved the story of ‘Building a garden in a crack den.’” But perhaps the better cause for celebration is Reason No. 2: the Vieux-Port carnivores beat out Christina Tosi’s Momofuku Milk Bar to take the prize.